Sheil Kapadia

Philly.com

DeSean Jackson led the Eagles in receiving yards (1,056) and yards per catch in 2010 (22.5).

But did he have too many drops?

The crew over at Pro Football Focus says yes. Rather than measuring total drops, they use a simple metric called drop percentage that measures drops per catchable balls. A catchable ball is the total number of drops plus receptions.

However, my numbers differ. I charted drops all season and had Jackson down for 7, which would give him a drop percentage of 12.5.

Drops are a subjective stat. Two people watching the same play might have different opinions on what constitutes a drop and what does not. It looks like there were five balls throughout the course of last season that I did not consider drops, but PFF did.

Maybe I'm just the blogger equivalent of an easy grader?

For what it's worth, STATS.com keeps track of drops during the regular season too, and Jackson did not make their list of players with at least seven drops either.

There is value in the simple drop percentage metric though, so here's how the Eagles' top three wide receivers and Brent Celek stacked up last year (playoff game included):

Catches

Drops

Drop Percentage

Brent Celek

44

7

13.73%

DeSean Jackson

49

7

12.50%

Jeremy Maclin

73

6

7.59%

Jason Avant

58

4

6.45%

As you can see, Avant had the best hands last year, which comes as no surprise. It's been that way for a few years now.

Celek had the highest drop percentage among this group and had seven total (the PFF analysis only counted wide receivers).

And while Maclin had just one fewer drop than Jackson and Celek, he also had many more receptions, so his drop percentage was much better.

One thing to keep in mind is that this metric only measures hands. There are obviously many more factors to consider when evaluating receivers, such as speed and playmaking ability. Jackson led the league, averaging 22.5 yards per catch and was tied for third with 21 receptions that gained 20 yards or more.

In other words, I don't see the drops as being as big of an issue as some others might.